The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory

The Red Queen
By Philippa Gregory

The Red Queen is Philippa Gregory’s second book in her trilogy about the Cousin’s War. This book follows Margaret Beaufort through her life and determination to place her son on the throne, where she believes it is God’s will that he rule. Through her loveless marriages and all the hardships she must face a woman she remains devout to God and continues to believe she is destined to follow in the footsteps of Joan of Arc.

While I can’t exactly gush over this book, I did really enjoy it. I can say that although I knew how it would end, I was excited to get to the end of the book. Gregory did a fantastic job of building up the suspense, especially towards the end of the book, so even if you know the outcome, you still have doubts that it is certain to turn out that way. It’s like when you watch Romeo and Juliet and Juliet starts to stir and for a moment you think that Romeo is going to notice her starting to wake up and they are going to live happily ever after so you forget that Shakespeare doesn’t give them the happy ending you are hoping for and you are yelling at the screen “Look Romeo, she is waking up. Just look at her right now and you will see she didn’t die.” When the final battle begins at the end of The Red Queen, even if you know who is going to be the victor, you still hesitate for a moment, knowing where all the key players stand but still unsure of their intentions, you forget what you know about history and become lost in the uncertainty of the battle.

Although it did take me awhile to become fully interested in the story (the first part of the book was a bit slow) I cannot wait for the third and final book. I am excited to see where Gregory takes the story.

**Source: I bought this book with my own sweet loot.